


Lost Things Always Turn Up

by sariahsue



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Cute, F/M, post-reveal, proposal, written as a gift, written from a prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:27:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23360953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sariahsue/pseuds/sariahsue
Summary: Adrien loses the engagement ring before he has a chance to pop the question.  To his horror, Marinette finds it.  And teases him with it.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 16
Kudos: 235





	Lost Things Always Turn Up

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GalahadWilder](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GalahadWilder/gifts).



Adrien checked his dresser drawers for a third time, flung the blankets off his bed, then raced back into the kitchen. Maybe he’d gotten distracted and left it in the fridge? When that turned up nothing, he dove into the living room, burying his head in the couch.

How could he have LOST the ring?! He’d waited too long to ask her, and now he’d LOST IT! When he surfaced, empty-handed, he had to admit that he was in trouble. The apartment was a disaster, his engagement ring was missing (though he still had no idea how to propose anyway), and Marinette would be there any minute. 

She would know something was wrong and question him. Coats were draped across the kitchen counter. His blankets spilled out his bedroom door. Books were piled next to the bookcase because he’d had the crazy idea that maybe the box had slipped to the back of a shelf on its own. A disaster. Just like him.

Marinette burst through the door. “I finally made that design work,” she crowed. “Haha! I told you I could do it.”

“I never said you couldn’t,” Adrien murmured, still slightly awestruck by her presence even after so many years together. The way her eyes lit up with delight and how she skipped into the room momentarily stunned him. She was just too good.

Of course, it wasn’t until Marinette cast a curious look over him that he realized he was still holding a couch cushion in one hand and staring at her like a sap. He tossed the cushion aside and stuffed his fists into his pockets, like maybe she hadn’t seen that.

“Did you lose someth-”

“No.” So much for that idea.

She took a step closer, dropping her purse on top of his coat as she went. “Can I help you look-”

“NO.” He pushed his hands deeper into his pockets. Nothing was wrong. She didn’t suspect a thing.

“O-o-okay,” Marinette said. “I’m glad you haven’t picked up my habit of losing things. It’d be fine if you had though, since I’ve gotten pretty good at finding things too. Lots of practice.”

“Good to know. Uh. Hungry?”

 _Everything is fine_ , Adrien told himself as he escaped to the fridge. The ring would turn up in a few days. It wasn’t like he’d been planning on popping the question today anyway. His proposal had to be perfect, and he still had zero ideas for what he should do or say. Lost things always turned up when the time was right.

Right?

Adrien pulled ingredients out of the fridge while Marinette started to get to work on the room, picking up the evidence of his search.

“Now I’m really curious about what you lost,” she said, shuffling papers back into one neat pile before getting attacking the counter, which was littered with stuff. “You obviously have been looking hard.”

“Have not.”

“And you’re still denying. Curiouser and curiouser. I might have to put my detective skills to the test.”

Adrien stuck his head back into the fridge to hide his blushing. She was going to figure it out if she kept thinking about it. What could he do to distract her?

He waited until her footsteps shuffled back into the hallway and the coat closet creaked open before he thought it was safe enough to emerge.

“Hey, Kitten?”

“What?” he called, walking toward the towers of books in front of the bookcase.

“This thing you didn’t lose… was it small?”

Adrien’s stopped dead even as nervous energy pooled in his feet, telling him it was probably a good time to run away. “Uhhhh… maybe,” he said. “Why?” She couldn’t have found it, could she?

“Was it pretty?”

Oh, no. “Not as pretty as you.”

Marinette practically floated around the corner and into view. Her fingers were clutched around a very familiar red velvet box, barely too big to sit in the palm of her hand. No way, no way, this was not happening. Adrien wanted to close his eyes and block it all out, but he couldn’t stop staring at the box.

“Was it supposed to be accompanied by some sort of speech that included a lot of cat puns?”

“Uh,” Adrien said. “No?”

Marinette just smile at him, then pitched her voice low in a terrible impersonation of him. “My Lady, you are the most _meow_ -velous _purr_ -son I’ve ever met.”

His face burned. “I’m not that bad,” he said, putting out his hand. “Give it back.”

She only smiled more broadly. And then took a step back, clutching the box to her chest.

“It’s not yours yet.” He swiped for it, but Marinette danced out of his reach.

“It could be mine right now!” she sang as she dodged around the counter island and then led him back into the living room as he started to chase her. After so many years of being Ladybug, it was easy for Marinette to gracefully jump over furniture and slip away from him, alternately laughing and throwing cheesy one-liners over her shoulder, most of which he’d remembered saying to her at least once, things like, “you’re the cat’s meow” and “I’d spend all nine lives with you.” Sheesh, he really was that bad.

They ended up in the middle of the room, with nothing but the coffee table between them. If he dodged right, she’d go left. He could take the left, but then she would be sure to go right. He was about to risk hopping straight over, when she started in again.

“You’re my favorite person.”

He didn’t remember ever phrasing it like that to her, though it was definitely true.

“You’re the best partner and the best companion I could have ever asked for.” She stood up straighter, jutting her chin up and putting her free hand over her heart and looking thoroughly pleased with herself for having successfully stolen her own engagement ring from him. “Every moment with you is a joy, even the tough ones. You’re so good, and so selfless, and so fun.”

Adrien stared at her, quest to recover his lost ring forgotten. The true treasure was standing right in front of him anyway. The corners of his vision started to go watery.

“I will never stop loving you,” she said, face illuminated by a huge smile. Then, she surprised him when she reached over the coffee table and, with a flourish, offered the unopened box to him. “So will you please marry me?”

Slowly, Adrien stepped over the table and right up next to her, covering the box with his hand but not taking it out of her. This was too perfect. She was too perfect, and here she was proposing to him! The lady of his dreams! One tear managed to escape and slipped down his cheek.

“Adrien!” Marinette gasped. “I’m so, so sorry. You bought me this beautiful ring and now I’m making fun of you with it, and you probably had this whole plan, and I completely ruined it, and I’m awful. I’m so sorry!”

“Do you want to know why I want to marry you?” he asked, reaching up to cup her face, letting his thumb caress her lips.

“Because you love me even though I make fun of you all the time?” she mumbled.

“I’ve had this ring for two weeks, and I couldn’t figure out what to say or how I should ask you.” Keeping his grip over her hand that still held the box, he dropped down on one knee. “You’re thoughtful and kind,” he said, and noticed her eyes were getting watery, too. “You’re brave and creative. And you make everything in my life better. Even proposing.”

He finally slipped the box away from her and flipped it open so she could see inside for the first time. She gave a little gasp.

“To answer your question,” he said, “yes, I will marry you. Will you marry me, too?”

Marinette’s eyes darted between him and the ring for just a moment before she flung her arms around his neck and kissed him.

**Author's Note:**

> This was inspired by a prompt from otpprompts on Tumblr, "Person A buys then loses an engagement ring, only to have Person B find it, start asking questions, and then finally propose" and written for GalahadWilder for his birthday.


End file.
